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John Darwall

Short Name:

John Darwall

Full Name:

Darwall, John, 1732-1789

Birth Year:

1732

Death Year:

1789

John Darwall (1731–1789) was an English clergyman and hymnodist.

Born in the village of Haugh­ton in Staffordshire, Darwall was educated at Manchester Grammar School and at Brasenose College, Oxford (which he entered at the age of 14), grad­u­at­ing in 1756. He then became curate and later vicar of St Matthew's Parish in Walsall. In 1766 he married to Mary Whateley (1738–1825), his second wife, a published poet who ran a printing press and also wrote hymns. He died on 18 De­cem­ber 1789 at Walsall in the West Mid­lands. He was buried at the Bath Street Bur­i­al Grounds.

He is probably best known for his setting of Psalm 148, known as DARWALL 148, which is most often sung to the words "Rejoice the Lord is King" (from Charles Wesley's Mor­al and Sac­red Po­ems of 1744) or "Ye holy angels bright" (from Richard Baxter's Po­et­ic­al Frag­ments of 1681). It was first sung at the inauguration of a new organ in 1773.

Darwall also wrote many of the tunes for the New Version of Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, as well as poetry published in The Gentleman's Magazine.